Reading guide
The same scene, told again
Confirmed by direct reading, every narrative element of SN 52.1 recurs here without change: the private reflection, Moggallāna's own instant arrival, and the same question about defining the four kinds of mindfulness meditation.
A genuinely plainer answer, not a copy-paste
This project's own direct comparison: where SN 52.1 gave the fuller “observing the liability to originate, to vanish, and to originate and vanish” phrase plus its own fivefold perception-wish list for the body specifically, this discourse's own answer uses only the plainer “meditates by observing an aspect of [X] internally... externally... internally and externally” — the more generic satipaṭṭhāna formula this project has already met elsewhere on this site, confirmed here as a genuinely distinct, paired variant rather than an identical repetition.
Two standard formulas, now confirmed side by side
This project's own observation: SN 52.1 and SN 52.2 together confirm that this saṃyutta itself preserves both of the classic satipaṭṭhāna closing formulas known from elsewhere in the canon — the fuller impermanence-observing version and the plainer generic version — deliberately paired as first and second discourses rather than treated as interchangeable.
Key terms
The text
§1At Sāvatthī. Then as Anuruddha was in private retreat this thought came to his mind: “Whoever has missed out on these four kinds of mindfulness meditation has missed out on the noble path to the complete ending of suffering. Whoever has undertaken these four kinds of mindfulness meditation has undertaken the noble path to the complete ending of suffering.”
§2Then Venerable Mahāmoggallāna knew what Venerable Anuruddha was thinking. As easily as a strong person would extend or contract their arm, he reappeared in front of Anuruddha and said to him:
§3“Reverend Anuruddha, how do you define the undertaking of the four kinds of mindfulness meditation by a mendicant?”
§4“Reverend, it’s when a mendicant meditates by observing an aspect of the body internally—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. They meditate observing an aspect of the body externally … internally and externally—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world.
§5They meditate observing an aspect of feelings internally … externally … internally and externally …
§6They meditate observing an aspect of the mind internally … externally … internally and externally …
§7They meditate observing an aspect of principles internally … externally … internally and externally—keen, aware, and mindful, rid of covetousness and displeasure for the world. That’s how to define the undertaking of the four kinds of mindfulness meditation by a mendicant.”
Self-check quiz
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